ATHLETICS: Fantastic league win for Young Athletes

Rugby & Northampton’s Young Athletes Progress to the Regional Semi-Final

Rugby & Northampton took a strong team to the 4th and final divisional round of the National Young Athletes League on Sunday. After wins in the first 3 rounds, a good performance would see them comfortably progress to the next stage of the competition as Divisional winners.

With strong opposition the team performed brilliantly to score 686 points, 138.5 points clear of their closest rivals, Milton Keynes and a further 60 points ahead of Cheltenham. Many athletes had the added complication of having competed for their County on the previous day, making it remarkable that there were 36 individual event wins, 24 new personal best performances and three new club records.

The under 17 women achieved 5 wins, most notably from Kerry Murch, who bounced back from a rare defeat on the previous day to win the Javelin, with a throw of 39m 47cm and also won the 80m hurdles in a new personal best of 11.9s. Hannah Scales also had a good day, winning the 300m hurdles in 47.8s, performing well in the Long Jump and setting a new personal best in the Javelin. Asia Ercan continued her improvement, winning the High Jump with 1m 40cm and finishing a close 2nd in the Triple Jump with a personal best leap of 9m 53cm. There was some excellent sprinting from Grace Adeyinka, who won the 200m in 26.8s and finished a strong 3rd in the 100m. In the middle distance events there were some good team performances. The consistent Mary Hughes finished 3rd in the 800m, with Bethan Goddard and Click Blake 2nd and 3rd in the 1500m. In the 3000m, triathlete Sarah Bennett was 2nd, with team mate Genevieve Roberts, setting a new personal best of 11m 26.1s in 3rd place.

The Under 17 men are developing a reputation for their team spirit and won 9 events and the 4x100m Relay. The day started well with the 100m hurdles, where Luke Townsend took the win with a personal best of 13.7s, narrowly beating team mate Brett Mason, who also lowered his PB to 14.1s. Mason was also 2nd in the 400m hurdles, narrowly beaten by Patrick Mills who finished in an excellent 61.7s. Tom Charteress also ran well to win the 800m, with a well judged 2m 02.9s effort. There were also maximum scores in the 100m and 200m where Ciaran Wardle was pushed hard by newcomer Clinton George. Both recorded outstanding times and along with Luke Townsend and Macauley Burke, won the 4x100m relay in a new club record time of 45.2s. Townsend went on to further success with a 2nd place in Long Jump and 3rd in the triple Jump behind team mate Yan Francis. There were several other outstanding performances in the field events where Harry Ronchetti added nearly 3 metres to his Club Record in the Discus, throwing 41m 77cm and also won the Javelin. There were also wins for Yan Francis, 1m 68cm in the High Jump, Ollie Dancer, 39m 66cm in the Hammer and Nick Scales, 2m 50cm in the Pole Vault. Showing great character, Harry Ronchetti and Nick Scales took on the challenge of the 1500m steeplechase, both finishing with personal bests and scoring valuable points for the team. There were also personal bests for Jacob Conner, Discus and Shot; and Macauley Burke in the shot.

There were 5 wins and relay success for the under 15 girls. Simone Ager won the 100m and the Long Jump, where Tia Clues jumped a personal best of 4m 62cm to finish 2nd . There was a big contribution from Regan Traynor who was 3rd in the 75m hurdles and 2nd in both the High Jump and the Pole Vault, with a PB of 1m 90cm and Tia Clues also recording a PB in 3rd. Gemma Scales recorded another personal best in winning the Shot, putting 8m 79cm and this achievement was matched by Ellen O’Mahoney who won the Javelin with 22m 53cm. The middle distance events produced more consistency, with Natalie Goddard improving her PB in the 800m, winning in 2m 28s, with Alison Inwood a close 3rd. In the 1500m there were strong 3rd and 4th place finishes for Ciara Moore and Kirsty Goddard.

The under 15 boys had an excellent day, winning 8 events. In the first of them Luke Bromley won the 80m hurdles with a PB of 11.8s, with teammate Lukas Lakin taking a heavy fall in finishing 3rd. Lakin showed great resilience by going on to set personal bests in the Pole Vault, a new club record of 2m 60cm and the Long Jump, an excellent 5m 70cm. Rotimi Segun set a new PB of 23.2s in the 200m, having been narrowly beaten in the 100m. There was middle distance success for Jack Murphy, 4m 37.2s in the 1500m and Adam Wright who won the 800m in 2m 11s, having finished 2nd in the 400m, beaten by team mate Matthew Gay, who won in 56.7s. In the Shot there was another win for Luke Bromley, 9m 94cm with Matthew Gay a close 2nd and a debut success for Jacob North, who took the Hammer competition with a throw of 30m 17cm. There were also spirited PB efforts from Ryan Williams and Zachary Stapleton, 3rd and 4th in the High Jump with clearances of 1m 40cm and 1m 35cm respectively.

The younger girls, the under 13’s, provided 6 wins including the 4x100 relay. Brittany Wood continued her superb season, winning the 70m hurdles in 12.1s and finishing a close 2nd in the Shot, with a Put of 7m 98cm. In the sprint events, Sophie Henderson was 2nd in the 75m in 10.7s and a close 3rd in the 150m in a PB of 21s. In both events Constantia Liburd ran well for 4th place finishes. Charlotte Vesey took maximum points in the Long Jump, with a best of 4m 12cm and with Brittany Wood, Sophie Henderson and Constantia Liburd, won the 4x100m relay by the narrowest of margins. There was another promising effort in the Long Jump from Milan Clues, who recorded another 4m jump and took 2nd place. In the middle distance events Lily Carmichael made it 4 wins from 4, taking another front running victory in the 1200m, with young team mate Georgia Willix coming home in 2ndplace. In the 800m Ella Bromley put in another front running display to win in a personal best time of 2m 43.6s. The High Jump was won by Kai Hussain with a clearance of 1m 25cm.

The under 13 boys were not to be left out, recording 5 wins. Toisin Segun equaled his PB of 12.8s in winning the 100m and was only narrowly beaten in the 200m. The 75m hurdles saw another victory for Tom Cheyne, in 13.6s. The final individual victory went to Matthew Tildesley in the Shot with a solid put of 8m 60cm. The relay squad of Segun, Cheyne, Cameron George and Aaron Gardner took a comfortable win in the 4x100m. In the middle distance events there was a PB for Ewan Roberts in the 800m, with an excellent 2m 39.4s to take 2nd place, just ahead of team mate Thomas Haynes, 2m 40.3s in 3rd.

Next event is the Midlands Regional semi-final, to be held at Birmingham Alexander Stadium on Sunday July 17.